ASEAN NOT GETTING ATTENTION IT DESERVES, SAYS MAYBANK CEO/PRESIDENT By Nor Baizura Basri

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 (Bernama) –- Prominent banker Abdul Wahid Omar says
Asean has not received the attention it truly deserves despite being a huge
market with a consumer base in excess of 600 million people which provides
immense opportunities for both business and investments.

Alluding to Southeast Asia’s economic potential, Abdul Wahid, who is Malayan
Banking Bhd president and chief executive officer, said with 10 member
countries, Asean is set to become an integrated economy by 2015 with nominal
gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1.5 trillion and average growth rate of six
per cent per annum.

“It has strong balance of payments with more than US$80 billion in trade
surplus with a sizeable international reserves exceeding US$600 billion.

"Asean is definitely a top 10 global economy that is even bigger than
India,” he said at his opening remarks during one of the sessions at the 2010
Annual Membership Meeting of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) held
in Washington DC last week.

According to a statement issued to Bernama, the previous IIF meetings have
always centred on China and India when discussing Asia but for the first time
this year, IIF dedicated a specific session on Asean with the title "Asean:
Maintaining Growth, addressing challenges and tapping opportunities.”

Abdul Wahid was the moderator of the first part of the session, which was a
panel discussion involving four eminent speakers from Asean -- namely
Thailand's Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanji; Philippines Finance Secretary
Cesar Purisima; Indonesian Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo and Singapore
Monetary Authority Managing Director Heng Swee Keat.

In his remarks, Korn said one of the major challenges for Asean countries
was inequality whereby there was a need for improvement in terms of poor people
getting access to resources including financial resources.

He said the Thailand government addressed this issue by supporting the scope
of micro-finance opportunities.

Besides that, managing a flexible exchange rate regime remained as a
challenge given the country’s position as a small and open economy that is
exposed to considerable exchange rate volatility, he said.

However, this has been mitigated by Thailand’s high growth prospects, which
have successfully attracted substantial inflows of foreign capital, resulting
in a significant appreciation of its currency.

Purisma said corruption and plugging leakages were key policy areas,
emphasised by the Phillippines in terms of maintaining what they called
“good governance”.

He said the Philippines government was serious about reducing tax evasion
to boost public revenue by bringing the tax evaders "to book".

Improving their infrastructure was also high on their agenda, with
expectations
that more foreign private capital investing in this sector, he
said.

Indonesia's Martowardojo however cautioned Asean countries that there were
still threats to a sustainable recovery such as subdued private sector credit
growth.

He said favourable conditions have helped the economy rebound quickly,
supported by a strong comeback in global trade and a resilient banking system.

To further strengthen their economies, Asean member countries are engaging
in trade negotiations to establish further free trade areas and remain committed
to multilateral liberaliSation of trade under the auspices of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).

Meanwhile, Heng pointed out three main drivers that would bolster further
the Asean countries growth.

Improved economic fundamentals, open regionalism and a great
supply-potential would continue to boost the region’s growth in the future.

Citing Singapore, he said, the country was in the process of moving to a
knowledge-driven, innovation-oriented economy and supporting investments in
human capital to achieve that goal.

“Optimism and commitment displayed by the speakers leaves us without a doubt
that Asean will progress towards a strong integrated economy by 2015 and will
contribute towards a sustainable growth in the global economy,” added Abdul
Wahid in his closing remarks before concluding the session.

The session was attended by close to 700 senior bankers, investors and
officials from 68 countries.

-- BERNAMA




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